Section Three
IMPORTANT UNIVERSITY POLICIES
POLICIES ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
This discussion includes:
General Policy
All graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (as well as all faculty, staff and visitors engaged in research) must sign the Stanford University Patent and Copyright Agreement (referred to as "SU-18"). In general, this agreement requires you to disclose and assign ownership of patentable inventions to Stanford if those inventions are created in the course of your University work, and with more than incidental use of University resources. By policy, Stanford does not claim copyrights to academic or scholarly materials, except in the few cases where this is required by law.
Students can sign their Stanford Patent and Copyright Agreement electronically in Axess (select the Academics tab and use the "Patent Agreement" link in the side menu). The agreement needs to be signed only once, regardless of the individual's program or position at Stanford. Students can also use the link in Axess at any time to view the content of the agreement.
The primary reason for the University's general policy is the prevention of possible conflicts of interest involving the use of Stanford resources. University resources, including laboratory facilities and specialized equipment, should not be used for anything other than the academic and research activities of the University. Consistent with the best interests of the University, Stanford will promote the licensing of inventions and other technologies, and will share any royalties with the inventor/creator.
The following passages, extracted from the relevant policy documents in the Research Policy Handbook, merely introduce this complex subject and indicate what, in general, the University's policy on intellectual property is. For further information, students should refer to Chapter 5 of the Research Policy Handbook (available on the web at http://rph.stanford.edu/Chpt5.html) and discuss any questions of interpretation or policy with their faculty adviser or with the Associate Dean of Research.
Patents
Potentially patentable inventions created in the course of University work, and with more than incidental use of Stanford resources, must be disclosed to the University. The inventor may choose to place the invention in the public domain. If not, the invention will be evaluated by Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), which handles the evaluation, marketing, negotiations and licensing of University-owned inventions with commercial potential.
Copyrights
Copyright is the ownership and control of the intellectual property in original works of authorship which are subject to copyright law. It is the policy of the University that all rights in copyright shall remain with the creator unless the work is a work-for-hire (and copyright vests in the University under copyright law, see Institutional Works, below), is supported by a direct allocation of funds through the University for the pursuit of a specific project, is commissioned by the University, makes significant use of University resources or personnel, or is otherwise subject to contractual obligations.
Royalty-Sharing
A deduction of 15% to cover the administrative overhead of OTL is taken from cash gross royalty income, followed by a deduction for any directly assignable expenses - typically patent filing fees. After deductions, royalty income is divided one third to the inventor, one third to the inventor's department, and one third to the inventor's school.
Other policy provisions:
Books, Articles and Similar Works
In keeping with tradition, the University does not claim copyright for books, articles, and similar works, the intended purpose of which is to disseminate the results of academic research or scholarly study. Such works include those of students created in the course of their education, such as dissertations, papers and articles. Similarly, the University claims no ownership of popular nonfiction, novels, poems, musical compositions, unpatentable software, or other works of artistic imagination which are not institutional works. If title to copyright in works vests in the University by law, the University will, upon request and to the extent consistent with its legal obligations, convey copyright to the creators of such works.
Institutional Works
The University retains ownership of works created as institutional rather than personal efforts - that is, works created for University purposes in the course of the creator's employment, or works resulting from simultaneous or sequential contributions over time by numerous faculty, staff and/or students. For instance, work assigned to staff programmers is "work-for-hire" as defined by law (regardless of whether the work is in the course of externally-sponsored research, University research, or non-research activities), as is software developed for University purposes by students and staff working collaboratively, and the University owns all rights, intellectual and financial, in such works.
Copying of Works Owned by Others
Members of the University community are cautioned to observe the rights of other copyright owners. Contact the General Counsel's Office for University policies pertaining to copying for classroom use. Policies regarding copying for library purposes may be obtained online (http://fairuse.stanford.edu) or from the Office of the Director of Libraries.
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